SOUTH ATLANTA FOR THE ENVIRONMENT (S.A.F.E) COALITION

ABOUT SAFE

SAFE, South Atlanta for the Environment is a community–based environmental health collaborative of residents, community-based organizations, neighborhood groups, governmental agencies, businesses and other stakeholders in Neighborhood Planning Unit-V (NPU-V). The SAFE coalition will be convened and facilitated by Environmental Community Action Inc. (ECO-Action) and will work in cooperation with our partners from grassroots organizations, federal, state, and local agencies, businesses, residents, and others.

As an environmental health collaborative involving community-based organizations, municipal and state/federal agencies, a university, and local businesses, we strive to:

•  Develop a Community-Based Environmental Health Collaborative;

•  Conduct a Multimedia Environmental Assessment;

•  Design and Implement a Leadership Training Institute;

•  Establish Environmental Priorities;

•  Develop an Environmental Risk Reduction Plan;

•  Share Lessons Learned with other Communities;

•  Ensure the sustainability of SAFE beyond current the funding source.

SAFE PARTNERS WORKING TOGETHER

Through a memorandum of understanding, SAFE partners pledge to share their knowledge, resources, and time, in order to ensure a coalition that will work in the best interest of the health and environment of Neighborhood Planning Unit-V (NPU-V) residents. SAFE partners will invest time in building relationships , working through a structured process, and getting results . SAFE will tap into the power of collaboration and participation. SAFE will also facilitate inter-generational learning and youth development for social and environmental health justice.

By working together, we will enable the community to gain the power to protect human health and the environment. Through SAFE, NPU-V residents will have an opportunity to learn about the links between the environment and health and what they can do to improve their environment and their health.

FUNDING

The source of funding for SAFE is a $100,000 United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) grant. Ths award to ECO-Action is for a two-year period. Plans are under way to secure additional funding and to diversify our funding sources to ensure the sustainability of SAFE.

Next Meet: June 16, 2009

QUESTIONS/ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Please leave your thoughts and ideas in our guestbook at the end of the page!

If you have any question or need additional information contact SAFE Project Director,

Dr. Yomi Noibi at yomi@eco-act.org or call 404-584-6499.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Saturday, July 18, 2009

NPU-V Community Green Wealth Forum! "Utilizing Green Jobs as a Pathway Out of Poverty"
(View the Flyer to Learn More!)

Join us at the Southside Medical Center:
Multipurpose Room (3rd Floor)
1046 Ridge Avenue SW, Atlanta, GA 30315

Time: 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
(Doors open at 8:30 a.m.)

Transportation, Childcare and Lunch will be provided.

Registration is requested as spaces are limited.
Register Online: https://atlanta2.oucp.emory.edu/registration/greenwealth/greenwealth_1a

To learn more and register, please call, email, or visit the online form:
ECO-Action Office: (404) 584-6499
Email: npuvgreenwealth@gmail.com

ECO-Action's Breaking Environmental News: SAFE Coalition

OCTOBER 2008

Environmental News
(Contact Information: Dawn Harris-Young, (404) 562-8421, harris-young.dawn@epa.gov )

ECO-Action Awarded $100,000 to Improve Community Health in South Atlanta

(ATLANTA – Oct. 15, 2008) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today awarded $100,000 to Environmental Community Action, Inc. (ECO-Action), a local non-profit, for their work on the South Atlanta For the Environment (SAFE) project.

The award is part of EPA's Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) program, a community-based, community-driven program that builds partnerships to help the public understand and reduce toxic risks from numerous sources. Since the program was established three years ago, CARE has provided over $9.5 million to 65 communities nationwide. The SAFE project is one of just 14 CARE grants awarded thus far in 2008.

The City of Atlanta is divided into 24 Neighborhood Planning Units (NPUs) and the SAFE project will focus on NPU-V, located in South Atlanta. The five neighborhoods that make up NPU-V, Adair Park, Mechanicsville, Peoplestown, Pittsburgh and Summerville, are home to more than 15,000 people. Area residents are concerned about environmental health threats, including higher rates of diabetes, heart disease and asthma than the rest of Fulton County.

“South Atlanta neighborhoods are suffering from disproportionate health outcomes,” said Russell Wright, Acting Deputy Regional Administrator for EPA in Atlanta. “Through the EPA's CARE Program, the SAFE Coalition will identify and begin to address all sources of environmental health risks.”

The purpose of the SAFE project is to develop a sustainable environmental health collaborative involving residents, community-based organizations, municipal and state agencies, a university and local businesses. Through the collaborative, SAFE partners will conduct a multi-media assessment of environmental exposures and establish priorities for risk reduction. Residents will be involved in every step of the project, from identifying potential sources of pollution to setting risk reduction priorities.

Some of the environmental challenges that the SAFE project hopes to address over the two-year project period include the large number of vacant lots and brownfield sites in the neighborhoods, and associated illegal dumping activities that occur at the sites. These problems are compounded by improper trash and construction debris disposal that invite vermin and contaminate soil and surface water. Automobile and truck emissions are a major concern—both along Interstates 20 and 75/85 that traverse the neighborhoods and from commercial diesel trucks that travel along secondary streets. Indoor environmental hazards include childhood lead poisoning, since most housing was built before 1978, mold, mildew, asbestos and indoor air pollution.

“This cooperative agreement between the EPA and ECO-Action will enable SAFE to plant seeds of partnerships and hope for environmental health protection in Neighborhood Planning Unit-V,” said ECO-Action Executive Director Dr. Yomi Noibi. “It is my fervent hope that the community will work hard together to ensure the sustainability of SAFE with ECO-Action's help.”

Established in 2005, CARE is a competitive grant program that offers an innovative way for communities to organize and take action to reduce toxic pollution in their air, land and water. By joining forces, for-profit and non-profit organizations can work together to improve the environmental health of a community and its residents.

Visit the CARE website at www.epa.gov/care to learn more about the program.